When I introduce my art, I cannot help but refer to the artistic
research which I carried out in the period spent in the Impruneta
countryside near Florence from 1975 to 1979.
The artistic research which I carried out in the environment, for the
environment, with all its phenomena - sensorial and conceptual, free
from the influence of market forces and dominant ideology continues to
this day.
Very little of the poor and recycled material used to create those
ephemeral installations has remained: nearly everything was recycled in
those years. A few dozen pieces are now visible only through partial
documented means consisting of photos, slides, some written texts and
some evidence from friends and acquaintances who used to visit and
share the large farmhouse in via Quintole per le Rose, 47. Only
recently I started showing my research of those years, because I am
convinced that it is still relevant. It is, in fact, from that research
that for the last twenty years I have been borrowing ideas, which I
then rework in order to express my creativity.
My choice in the middle of the ‘90s to use only printed paper
(newspapers, magazines, books, etc.) out of all of the available
recyclable materials in order to make sculptures, installations and
performances evolved at the same time as my interest to communicate
what I had made and was making through the internet, by creating my own
websites to document my day to day activities.
I have always been an ecologist: in 2002 I started to transform
recycled newspapers into artwork, without using machines, glue, water
or fixing agents… using only my hands, I twist newspapers into threads
with endless combinations of thicknesses and colours. These threads are
gathered into skeins, reels and balls, and then, using traditional
techniques such as knitting, crochet and weaving are crafted into
unique, unrepeatable works, both poor and precious at the same time. An
art which I define as “zero impact” since the works come from recycled
materials and do not require the consumption of non-renewable resources
for their realization, with the further possibility of being undone
once more, re-made, or sent back into the recycling chain.
Once I overcame the experimental stage, for several years I started to
objectify my works by making garment-sculptures, tapestries, chair
installations, table doilies, giant balls and maxi-socks…Since 1995 my
performances with newspaper unite the ludic and spectacular action with
the didactic moment in which I show the techniques of recycling.
My primary aim remains the communication of the ecological message to
all the peoples of the earth, because I believe that wellbeing and
happiness are dependent upon a respect for the environment, and I am
therefore convinced that every person, without exception must stand for
the defence of planet earth against any form of
pollution.